Bukayr ibn Mismār, from ʿĀmir ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, from his father, who said:

Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān once said to Saʿd, “What is keeping you from reviling Abū Turāb?” Saʿd replied, “Because of three statements the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made about him—I would never abuse him. To possess even one of those merits would be dearer to me than the finest red camels.

First: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say—and he had left ʿAlī behind on one of his expeditions. ʿAlī had said to him, ‘O Messenger of Allah, are you leaving me behind with the women and children?’ He answered, ‘Are you not pleased to occupy toward me the position of Hārūn toward Mūsā—except that there is no prophet after me?’

Second: I heard him on the day of Khaybar say, ‘Tomorrow I shall certainly give the banner to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, and whom Allah and His Messenger love.’ I stretched my neck hoping for it. He then said, ‘Call ʿAlī for me.’ ʿAlī was brought while suffering from an eye ailment; the Prophet spat into his eyes, handed him the banner, and Allah granted victory through him.

Third: When the verse was revealed, ‘Then say: Come, let us summon our sons and your sons, our women and your women, and ourselves and yourselves’ (Āl ʿImrān 61), the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called for ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, Ḥasan, and Ḥusayn, then said, ‘O Allah, these are my household.’ [Al-Tirmidhī said: ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.]

Muslim, al-Tirmidhī, and al-Nasāʾī (1) likewise transmitted it on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib from Saʿd, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to ʿAlī, ‘You stand in relation to me as Hārūn stood to Mūsā.’ (Al-Tirmidhī remarked: ‘It is unusual for Saʿīd to narrate from Saʿd.’)

Imām Aḥmad (2) said: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit narrated to us, from Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from his father—meaning ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar—from Saʿd, who said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out for Tabūk, he left ʿAlī behind. ʿAlī asked, ‘Are you going to leave me behind?’ He replied, ‘Are you not pleased to hold toward me the station of Hārūn toward Mūsā, except that there is no prophet after me?’ This chain is sound, and the two Ṣaḥīḥs did not record it.

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafah al-ʿAbdī (3) said: Muḥammad ibn Khāzim—Abū Muʿāwiyah al-Ḍarīr—narrated to us, from Mūsā ibn Muslim al-Shaybānī, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sābiṭ, from Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ (who said: Muʿāwiyah arrived during one of his pilgrimages, and Saʿd came to him). They mentioned ʿAlī, whereupon Saʿd said, ‘He possesses three qualities; to have even one of them would be dearer to me than the whole world and everything in it. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “Whomever I am his mawlā, ʿAlī is his mawlā.” I also heard him say, “Tomorrow I shall give the banner to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, and Allah and His Messenger love him.” And I heard him say, “You occupy toward me the position of Hārūn toward Mūsā, except that there is no prophet after me.”’ The compilers of the two Ṣaḥīḥs did not record this report, and its chain is ḥasan.